One of the world’s most-travelled and admired conductors has died in Tokyo at the age of 84. Kazuyoshi Akiyama was music director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra from 1972 to 1985, upon which he was named conductor laureate. He also served as music director and conductor laureate of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, as well as music director of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and American Symphony Orchestra.
On January 1, Akiyama suffered spinal cord damage from a fall, which caused permanent paralysis. He passed away on January 26.
Last year in an interview with Pancouver, Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra music director Ken Hsieh recalled the profound impact that Akiyama had on him as a young musician.
“You know, at that time I didn’t really watch the conductor too much, to be honest,” Hsieh said at the time. “But what I really appreciated was that Akiyama was so clear…in his beat that anybody can follow it. If you had an orchestra full of monkeys, they could follow him without any problem.”
In 1991, Akiyama led the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra on a world tour. It included a performance at the United Nations in New York.
Akiyama had a long association with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, which began when he was hired as assistant conductor in 1968, He later became its conductor laureate.
“A committed advocate of rare and contemporary repertoires, in 1994, for the 400th subscription performance of TSO, he conducted a concert style performance of Schoenberg´s Moses and Aaron, the first Japan performance of that work with Japanese artists,” a profile of Akiyama states on the VSO website. “He also has conducted several Japanese premieres of works by composers such as Helmut Lachenmann (The Little Match Girl) and John Adams (El Niño).”
Over the course of his career, Akiyama won many honours, including the Kyoto Music Award, the Mainichi Arts Award, and the Suntory Music Award. He also received Japan’s highest honour, the Medal with Purple Ribbon. And he’s a member of the B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame.
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